RATED X
Tasteful, dramatic, and fascinating, “Rated X” is a damned good movie that is sorely overlooked. This is one wild ride.…
Biopic
BLAZE
Biopic, Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Criterion Channel, Cult Film, FIVE STARS, Music, Romantic Drama
Director Ethan Hawke does the memory of Blues singer/songwriter Blaze Foley justice in this transfixing biopic. Cole Smithey.
LADY BIRD
Agitprop, Biopic, Capsules Blog, Coming-of-Age, Corporate Corruption, Cult Film, Current Affairs, Feminist Cinema, LGBTQ, Politics, sex, Social Satire, Women's Cinema, ZERO STARS
Lady Bird is a KAREN. The fact is indisputable and undeniable. Racist, homophobic, lazy, petty, selfish, sociopathic, disloyal, and dishonest,…
FEUD: CAPOTE VS. THE SWANS
Biopic, Capsules Blog, FOUR STARS, LGBTQ, Literary Adaptation, sex, Social Satire, Women Filmmakers, Women's Cinema
Mired in the cruelty of its real-life characters, the series starts off bumpy. If you can make it past the…
PRIDE
Agitprop, Biopic, British Cinema, Capsules Blog, LGBTQ, Political History, sex, TWO STARS, Women's Cinema
All attempts fail at forcing a by-the-numbers narrative template on a fact-based story about unlikely bedfellows uniting against Prime Minister…
OPPENHEIMER
Academy Awards, Biopic, Capsules Blog, Historical Drama, Propaganda, sex, TWO STARS, War, War Fantasy
Cillian Murphy gives an incomparable virtuosic portrayal of the man responsible for creating the Atom Bomb. Murphy’s fierce performance is…
MAESTRO
Academy Awards, Biopic, Black and White, Capsules Blog, LGBTQ, Music, Musical, ONE STAR, sex, Women's Cinema
Here is a film that needed a serious rewrite, much tighter editing, and direction by a filmmaker other than Bradley…
RUSTIN
Academy Awards, African American Cinema, Agitprop, Biopic, Capsules Blog, FIVE STARS, LGBTQ, Politics, sex, True Crime, War
Welcome! Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does. This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.…
RADICAL WOLFE
Richard Dewey’s informative documentary about famed New York City author Tom Wolfe places subtle reflection on Wolfe’s coded right wing…
BLONDE
Biopic, Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, Cult Film, Feminist Cinema, FIVE STARS, Hollywood, Literary Adaptation, Women's Cinema
“Blonde” functions as a feminist narrative that digs in dark corners of 20th century American reality where beauty is a…
ELVIS — CANNES 2022
Academy Awards, Biopic, Cannes Film Festival, Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, FIVE STARS, Music, Rock 'n' Roll, Women's Cinema
This soup-to-nuts musical biopic about Elvis Presley is a stunner. Wow! Cole Smithey.
ELVIS — CANNES 2022
Biopic, FIVE STARS, LGBTQ, Music, Musical, Reviews Blog, Rock 'n' Roll, Women Filmmakers, Women's Cinema
This soup-to-nuts musical biopic about Elvis Presley is a stunner. Wow! Cole Smithey.
THE BALLAD OF GREGORIO CORTEZ — THE CRITERION COLLECTION
Robert Young’s filmic adaptation of Américo Paredes’s 1958 book “With His Pistol In His Hand: A Border Ballad and Its…
DOLEMITE IS MY NAME
Craig Brewer’s biopic valentine to the great Rudy Ray Moore is a romping hoot.
KING RICHARD
Academy Awards, African American Cinema, Biopic, Capsules Blog, Sports Drama, Women's Cinema, ZERO STARS
THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN REMOVED DUE TO WILL SMITH’S INEXCUSABLE BEHAVIOR AT THE OSCARS. MAY NEITHER WILL SMITH, NOR HIS…
TICK, TICK…BOOM!
Andrew Garfield sings and dances his ass off in a movie that doesn’t support his best efforts. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directing…
AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE — THE CRITERION COLLECTION
Biopic, Capsules Blog, Criterion Collection, FIVE STARS, Literary Adaptation, Women Filmmakers, Women's Cinema
Jane Campion’s rigorous filmic rendition of Janet Frame’s autobiography is a stunner by any measure. Cole Smithey.
HOUSE OF GUCCI
Wow! Here is the Hollywood knock out movie we’ve been waiting for. Sure it could stand to lose 10 or…
BEING THE RICARDOS
Go away Aaron Sorkin, and don’t come back. Cole Smithey.
SEBERG
Worthy. Screenwriters Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel do a respectable job with the impossible task of condensing the complex character…
COLE SMITHEY’S CLASSIC CINEMA
